snowwhite84
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2006
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You've made a great start to your first trip report! I have to say, your daughter is so, so sweet! What fun you will have together. My boys were six and eight their first trip so I can't really comment on travelling with babies to Disney. We have, however travelled from Ontario to PEI with all three and I found sticking to routine was the most important thing when away from home. You know your daughter best, so deciding what suits her mood and temperament would be best. You have picked a perfect resort to have the flexibility of the monorail and the ease of walking to MK. I would definitely plan on breakfast if she does well in the mornings. Chef Mickeys is busy but she will be at a great age for characters and I bet there will be some really lovely interactions. Happy trip planning and enjoy every minute with your sweet girl!
Hopefully it won't be quite so crazy in September but it is still going to be super hot. I would get to AK as early as possible. Would you consider doing the EMH or would it be too much? Any chance of scheduling AK later in the trip?So, any opinions? Should I switch our plans so we visit AK on our first day to avoid the EMH,
Maybe you could try to rope drop Soarin' and have your FP for Frozen. What about doing an early breakfast at Garden Grill? The food is great and you would see Farmer Mickey, Chip, Dale and Pluto. Once you are finished you could walk right on to Soarin' and maybe do Living with the Land as well. I would have DH do Test Track as single rider for sure.However, Test Track is DH's favorite ride in Epcot, and I'd really like to try the new Soarin, as I haven't seen it with the new film. Anyone know what the chances are of picking up Fastpasses for these day of? I know DH can always do single rider on TT.
A book would be great. You could also get a picture frame and have the characters all sign along the matt. Then you could put your favourite Disney picture of your daughter in the frame. On our first trip when the boys were 6 and 8, they were crazy about collecting autographs.So what have you all done in the past for autographs???
Good morning! I felt like a good first follow up to my original post would be discussing ADRs, but I'm still ironing out where we'll be dining. Sit down restaurants are a big part of mine and DH's Disney travel, but we know things will be a bit different this time with an infant.
For those who have traveled with infants, did you find breakfast then heading to the parks to be too much? Does it make more sense to do breakfast, nap in the room, then head to the park? Should we think about a character breakfast in the park? Or should we scrap the breakfast idea altogether?
As I mentioned before, our extended family is joining us on the first two days of our trip. I'd like to plan a Magic Kingdom day with them, and an Animal Kingdom day. Ideally, our first day would be at MK, as I'd love for that to be baby C's first park. But that puts AK on our second day, and that date is morning EMH at Animal Kingdom. I don't see us making an 8 am rope drop with baby, so I'm wondering if we shouldn't skip that park that day.
I will likely do FP+ for FoP for half our party, and the river ride for the other half (we're not all thrill seekers ) I'd then do some Fastpasses for Everest and Dinosaur. Our goal for AK would be explore Pandora, eat some snacks (green beer! ), ride a few more rides in the park, then leave.
So, any opinions? Should I switch our plans so we visit AK on our first day to avoid the EMH, or do you think we would still be fine showing up mid-morning on an EMH day so long as we plan FP+ accordingly?
However, Test Track is DH's favorite ride in Epcot, and I'd really like to try the new Soarin, as I haven't seen it with the new film. Anyone know what the chances are of picking up Fastpasses for these day of? I know DH can always do single rider on TT.
I have such a love/hate relationship with the new Fastpass system. It does require more planning, but I think I'm going to be glad to have these things sorted out in advance when traveling with an infant!
Hopefully it won't be quite so crazy in September but it is still going to be super hot. I would get to AK as early as possible. Would you consider doing the EMH or would it be too much? Any chance of scheduling AK later in the trip?
I clicked over from my PTR and have enjoyed reading your's thus far! Can't wait to hear more of your plans. We traveled with DS5 for the first time when he was 15 months, so we've done a little traveling with a pretty young child.
YES!!! Things are going to be very different for sure! One thing we've learned don't put the child in the high chair until food has arrived. This may not make sense, but I'm convinced that as soon as the butt hits the high chair a timer starts for how long the child will stay in that chair. The last thing you want is for that timer to run out right as you are about to eat your entree. So, we used to hold DS until our entrees arrived and he seemed to be able to stay in the high chair longer during the main part of the meal. Also, don't hesitate to get up and take walks while waiting for your food. I've done this plenty of times!
Another thing we always keep in mind is since our kids are young we try and schedule most sit down meals to be either character buffets or family style meals. Those seem to be MUCH, MUCH, MUCH easier with young kids than making them sit through a meal where you are waiting on a waiter to come over, take your order, the food be cooked, etc.
I can say we've only ever done these in a park. It also probably really depends on your child. Our kids have always been early risers as DW and I are both teachers, so they get up every day to go to daycare. Making it to rope drop was never an issue for us, it was the afternoon nap time that was critical, but that is how our kids have been raised. Bottom line I don't know if I can help you too much, but I can say character breakfasts in the park did work well for us.
I wish I could help on this question. There is no telling what Animal Kingdom, specifically Pandora, crowds will be like in September. Normally September you might be fine, but with Pandora still being new you might run into some issues.
I like this plan. Honestly, since you have the child swap you could technically get a CS pass for FoP for the people who have that FP and that would allow up to three other people ride it in the FP line later on. That won't work for Na'vi, but no reason why you couldn't do that at FoP.
If every person only wants to ride one of the two Pandora rides I think you can still be successful with a late arrival, that's the beauty of the new FP system, but if people want multiple Pandora rides or to ride both you may have a hard time.
As long as you are at Epcot at rope drop, which is tough with a little one, I would try riding test track first and getting a child swap to ride later and then heading over to Soarin' and getting a child swap for the other person to ride again there later. You may have a 25 minutes wait or so on Soarin', but with the new theatre the line doesn't get completely out of control as quick in the morning. I don't really know on day of FP availability. I just looked at Touring Plans and they say there are both Soarin' and TT FP's available for today after 2 PM, but of course it is just 9:30 AM when I'm writing this. It would probably depend how quick you could use your three FP's.
I agree for sure! There were a lot of great things with the old system, but with the new system I love the flexibility it gives you. You can show up late and still have a great day with FP+ whereas old FP you'd be so behind FP windows it would be tough to catch up and have a good day.
Can't wait to hear more of your plans!
For those who have traveled with infants, did you find breakfast then heading to the parks to be too much? Does it make more sense to do breakfast, nap in the room, then head to the park? Should we think about a character breakfast in the park? Or should we scrap the breakfast idea altogether?
I'd love to hear some tips/advice on this topic, as I'm new to the whole traveling with baby concept!
You are off to a great start!! It has to be so exciting going to Disney for the first time with a little one!
We have done Chef Mickey on a park morning, and we did it really early so we could make it to MK Rope Drop (RIP) The one piece of advice I'd give is to ask for a table out of the way/off to the side and put your munchkin in her high chair between mom and dad. Being out of the way will keep you from feeling like you're eating in the middle of that hyena stampede in your gif earlier in the post, which can be exhausting for adults but entirely overwhelming for little ones. The characters will still come to your table regardless of where you sit so you won't be missing out on anything.
That's where the cleaver high chair placement comes in to play. If you and dad are there, she will probably be more comfortable when an giant, mute (albeit adorably dressed) walking rodent approaches her un-invited. I think we as adults take for granted how terrifying that can be. When we were at Aulani last summer, our 18 month old saw Goofy in his Hawaiian garb coming towards him and FREAKED. THE. YOUKNOWWHAT. OUT. He started screaming "Bye bye monster! Bye bye!!! Bye bye monster!!!" It was equal parts sad and hilarious. We said, "that's not a monster, that's Goofy!" To which he replied, "bye bye Boofy! Bye monster Boofy!!!"
I digress. She might love the "monsters" roaming about. She might not. If she has her attachment figures on each side of her, she'll have a better chance at handling it well.
Hope that makes sense.
Your gif game is definitely at Level 10. Well done!
Thanks! I like a good visual
A book would be great. You could also get a picture frame and have the characters all sign along the matt. Then you could put your favourite Disney picture of your daughter in the frame.
Yeah. Makes it a lot more fun. Now I want to go update my PTR with super sweet images! Where do you get all those? Swaggy Elsa is my favorite. That might also need to be my wife's new nickname